[5 1 J HISTORY OF THE TILE-FISH. 287 



tunate enough to meet with the William A. Wells, od her way to Greeu- 

 port with a cargo of menhaden. The captain, who knew the Josie 

 Eeeves, and understood why she was there, very kindly stoyjped his 

 boat and sold us 2,000 fish at $f» per thousand. He also took our mail. 



We then filled away and ran down the Sound with a brisk southerly 

 breeze, carrying all of our light sails. At 8.40 p. m. passed Little Gull 

 Eock and at 10.30 p. m. Montauk Point light bore SW". by W. about 5 

 miles distant. At that time we hauled to, steering a S.SE. course, and 

 as there was some head sea and the wind had freshened, we took in the 

 balloon jib and staysail. 



The morning of Wednesday, the 20th, was fine, with a brisk breeze 

 from S.SW. About 8 o'clock, however, it was foggy, but soon after it 

 cleared off, and the weather continued fine throughout the day, though 

 the wind was somewhat variable, backing southerly for two or three 

 hours at a time, and then hauling back again. 



At sunrise all hands were called, and we began making preparations 

 for setting the gear, and during the forenoon we baited a cod and had- 

 dock trawl, each having 1,000 hooks. We thought it possible in the 

 morning that we might get to the Tile-fish ground early enough to make 

 a set with the trawls, but the wind being moderate and variable in the 

 afternoon we did not reach deep water until 3.55 p. m., when we sounded 

 in 118 fathoms, our position at that time by dead reckoning being 40'^ 4' 

 north latitude, and 70° 30' west longitude, about a mile from the position 

 where the Fish Hawk found Tile-fish abundant August 23, 1881. The 

 day was too far advanced, however, for us to set the trawls, so we hove 

 to for the night. 



A short time before reaching deep water (shortly after 3 o'clock) we 

 saw several fin-back wbales. A little after 4 o'clock we noticed three or 

 four schools of small fish, which were apparently about the size of large 

 mackerel. At times they showed a ripple like mackerel or herring, and 

 very frequently many of them would spring from the water together, 

 making long dolphin-like jumps. We ran for the schools in hopes to 

 approach them near enough to find out what species the fish were, but 

 they sank before we got close enough to them, and a troll-hook which 

 we put out failed to catch any.* 



The evening was fine, with brisk S.SW. wind. We lay to under main- 

 sail and jib with head to the eastward during the first half of the night, 

 after which we jogged the opposite way. 



Thursday morning, the 21st, was overcast, with a moderate S.SW. 

 breeze, but after sunrise the weather cleared off beautifully with a slight 

 increase of wind. 



At daylight we set the trawls under sail, beginning in 160 fathoms 

 and running the gear northwardly towards shoaler water. After the 

 trawls were out we sounded at the lee ends, getting a depth of 135 

 fathoms, the bottom being mud, sand, and broken shells. Our position 



* It is probable that the fish we saw were mullet. 



